Dance, Magic, Dance

Forest and Taz try to remember what they're talking about

“Hey, if you’re talking about Maman Minerva, she’s got a name, and it’s kind of rude to call her things like ‘babe’, Forest.”

“Whaa-, no dog! We were doing the thing from the movie!”

“What?”

“The movie thing! You know, man, the movie…with David Bowie and the muppets and shit, right?”

“What?”

“Ah jeez, Taz, you gotta see this. It’s like…a classic. Here, can you hold this and I’ll pull it up on screen.”

“What am I holding?”

“My pipe! This one’s my favorite. It, like, takes me places, man.”

“Why is there a little man floating in the pipe bowl?”

“Oh, sweet, he’s back! You see him, dog?”

“Nope, not anymore. Were you really just watching Zac’s ‘Night of the Chupacabra’?”

“Yeah, man, you’ve got to check out this one scene where the chupacabra flies down from like out of nowhere and bites a dude’s head clear off!”

“But chupacabras don’t have wings, Forest. At least, not the ones we fought last year.”

“Dude, what??”

“What?”

“You met a chupacabra?!”

“Oh yeah, we met them. As in they tried to take us apart, piece by piece. It was at the Zookeeper’s battle arena and holding cells, where we freed the Sphinx.”

“….cool.”

“What were we talking about again?”

“I dunno, man, something about vibrations and that crazy door in the astral plane. Also maybe David Bowie.”

“Yes! Forest, how are you at working with energy?”

“Energy, like vibes? Hell yeah, I got that finger magic, yo!”

“So, say we were trying to fight against that door in the collective unconsciousness being opened, overlapping this world with the underworld and doing terrible things to everyone.”

“Yeah, dude, everybody’s talking about it. The bad dudes are freaking out and trying to find a way to close it ”

“Yeah, so…wait, what?”

“What?”

“Which bad dudes?”

“Yooo, dude, shit, I just realized you don’t know anything about that. There’s like, so many factions I can’t keep track of all of them. But check it, see I’m talking about the secret masters of everything. Like, they try to define what truth even is. Well, not the ones I’ve met. Hah, yeah, I’m nowhere near cool enough to face like the boss monsters. I’m just facing the pawns. Or no, the bishops maybe. Pawns would be like you guys.”

“So we decided to try to fight the door opening by using the resonance of the music of the world, channeled through mediums that can focus and strengthen it, like the water or crystal caverns, things like that.”

“Oh yeeeaaah. Tapping into the music of the spheres sort of thing to bring about harmony.”

“Do you think you could help us? We need to try to push that door closed again. The Patrons are trying to bring in the underworld through different methods and portals in our world, like the collective consciousness and the waterways. We’re trying to save the world by turning their own methods against them, but this time with consent and while focusing on what makes us stronger together. We could really use your help keeping things from going too crazy, though. We’re in pretty deep waters with not much info on how to do what we’re trying to do. Can you help us figure out how to direct the vibrations, this heartbeat of the world, and focus it to close that door and lock it again? Maybe even pull out or destroy the key? Granger is also working some angles with dreamstate magic, helping people figure out how to close the door in their minds that got opened by the Patrons. If you can’t do the resonance, could you maybe help him with that?”

“…”

“I know, it’s crazy. It’s a lot to take in, too. Here, I have some of this stuff written down if that makes it easier to-“

“Nope, I’m down.”

“Really??”

“Hell yeah, man. Save the world through good vibes? I’m all over that shit!”

“Oh, man, Forest, that’s awesome! You’ll have the backing of all of us in the Contingent, and Empire, of course, and-”

“Who?”

“Who what?”

“Who’s that?”

“The Contingent? The Empire Foundation? The people you work for?”

“What?”

“…”

“Oh hey! Labyrinth! Taz, you’ve got to see this movie, man! Tell me about these Contingent and Empire dudes while we watch this, though you can’t talk over the songs, ok? These are, like, the best songs.”

(TEXT TO GRANGERSIMMS: “Forest is down, but has no idea what I’m talking about aside from some really scary and important things I don’t understand yet. This may take a while. Also, was David Bowie supposed to be part of our plans? I can’t remember now.”)